No. 383.] THE ADVANCE OF BIOLOGY IN 1896. 873 
The Nervous System and Mental Functions. — Great activity 
was displayed in the study of the structure of the nerve cell, 
yet the significance of the chromophile substance and the 
fundamental substance remained in dispute, Ramon y Cajal 
regarding the former as a nutritive reserve. The variations of 
the nerve cell in different states of function and health were 
the subject of much attention. The results of the immense 
activity in the fields of sensations, instincts, and emotions can- 
not be summarized. 
General Theories. — The most important theoretical work of 
the year was probably Cope’s Factors of Organic Evolution. 
Important also were Weismann’s Veber Germinal Selection and 
Le Dantec’s Théorie nouvelle de la vie. 
Of the subjects considered in L’ Année Biologique five seem 
developing with magnificent rapidity — cytology, experimental 
morphology, general physiology, variation, and the nervous 
system. Already there are indications of the not far distant 
blending of the results of the work in all of these lines of 
investigation, 
